Who Has the Advantage in Celtics-Heat Series?

Recency effects aside, let's not kid ourselves—the Boston Celtics may have won Games 3 and 4 of the Eastern Conference finals, but they still have a long way to go before proving themselves to be capable of long-term stability.

There's no question that the Celtics have succeeded offensively in this particular series in ways that clearly eluded them in the two opening rounds. Some of that is a boon of this specific matchup—the Heat bring out the best in the Celtics competitively and strategically.

And though Boston doesn't exactly have any of the pieces that typically align with Miami's points of weakness, it has been able to find the root of consistent offense over the course of the series.

The only problem: That root is Rajon Rondo and in Game 4, the Heat flashed the potential to phase Rondo out of the game with a more aggressive defensive front.

We know that even at their worst, the Heat—through LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, primarily—are capable of putting up points. We know that the Celtics can hit on the same frequency when at their absolute best. But their offense still requires too much circumstantial perfection and ultimately looks vulnerable when faced with the task of closing out the series.